River and Trail Festival at Good Shepherd Episcopal School

It’s almost springtime, so, exciting outdoor events will start popping up all over Richmond in the coming weeks.

We’d like to encourage you to mark your calendars for one event in particular, taking place on May 12th from 10-2. Good Shepherd Episcopal School’s upcoming River and Trail Festival (formerly Community Bike Bash) will celebrate all things outdoors afforded by our beautiful Forest Hill Park and James River Park System. This year, Good Shepherd will again showcase mountain bikes, local biking experts, and bike-related non-profits. They will also be including river sports in the outdoor theme, as well as conservation organizations, local food, music, and artists. Most importantly, this event will benefit the Richmond Cycling Corp, a non-profit organization which creates and coaches cycling teams for youth living in Richmond’s housing projects. Come and enjoy food by Forest Hill’s own Kitchenette, music by Tin Can Fish Band, crafts for the kids, and art by local artists. You can’t go wrong with that line-up!

This event was created as part of Good Shepherd’s increased focus on place-based education and environmental stewardship. Place-based education is the process of using the local community and environment as a starting point to teach concepts in language arts, mathematics, social studies, science, technology, and other subjects across the curriculum. Emphasizing hands-on, real world learning experiences, this approach to education increases academic achievement, develops strong ties to the community, enhances appreciation and understanding of the natural world, creates an ethic of stewardship, and a commitment to serving as active, contributing citizens. GSES has initiated phase one of the “place-based” curriculum through Outdoor Education with its youngest students, and next year seeks to extend it to the entire K-8 population. Ultimately, GSES hopes to become a resource to Richmond City Public Schools.